The headliner at this year’s Spring Comedy Show has an accomplishment of which some Washington University students might be envious: he was accepted to Harvard Law School. But instead of pursuing a legal career, Demetri Martin switched to stand-up comedy, becoming a regular contributor to “The Daily Show” and star of the Comedy Central show “Important Things with Demetri Martin.”

The University’s Social Programming Board announced Thursday that Martin, 39, will host the biannual comedy show held on April 15 in Graham Chapel.

Freshman Brian Benton, comedy director for SPB, said group members chose Martin because they wanted a recognizable talent for SPB’s first major show.

“We didn’t really want to take a risk for our first show,” Benton said.

“His material is something a lot of students can relate with,” Benton added. “He graduated from Yale; he’s very well-educated…he has a different take on comedy.”

Martin has worked both as a stand-up comedian on Comedy Central and as a writer for “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.” His style as a stand-up comic is unconventional and involves making use of one-liners, drawing pads and musical accompaniment for his jokes.

The show will be free for students, and SPB may not offer tickets for outside guests because Martin is appearing at The Pageant the week beforehand. Although ticketing procedures have yet to be finalized, SPB is confident that the choice will draw a large University audience.

“We’re pretty excited about it, and we hope that students will be too,” Benton said.

“I have heard of him before so that’s pretty surprising that he’s coming,” junior Alisa Li said. “I like him, he’s really funny and creative and I’m looking forward to his concert.”

With additional reporting by Sahil Patel and Michael Tabb.